Attempted murder case related to college party fight progresses

Four of five men charged with attempted murder are heading to Monroe County Court, with the fifth waiting to see if he will join his co-defendants at the county court level.

Navaun Evans, Victor Velazquez and Trenton Briggs Jr., all 20, and Shamel Bayley, 22, all of Tobyhanna, and Tarell Moultrie, 21, of Allentown, are charged with beating and stabbing Erjahn McLean, 19, on May 4 in Pocono Township.

All except Moultrie recently waived their rights to preliminary hearings before Tannersville Magisterial District Judge Thomas Olsen and will head to county court, where each can go to trial, plead guilty or plead no contest. Moultrie is scheduled for a future preliminary hearing before Olsen to see if his case likewise will head to county court.

A police affidavit gives the following account:

At about 1:30 a.m. May 4, McLean and a friend, Andrew Perez, 20, were at a large party at East Stroudsburg University when Perez jumped a man later identified as Evans and a fight started. The fight grew in size as both menís friends jumped in. The affidavit does not say why Perez jumped Evans.

Security broke up the fight and told everyone to leave the building, at which point the fight continued in the parking lot until police arrived and dispersed everyone.

McLean left, driving a Lexus with Perez in the passenger seat.They had no idea they were being followed until McLean entered Cobble Creek Estates, off Sullivan Trail in Tannersville, at which point a Pontiac Grand Am occupied by five men (later identified as the defendants) cut him off. Two of the five jumped out of the Pontiac and aggressively approached McLean and Perez, who then backed up and drove west (north) on Sullivan Trail to get away.

The five men in the Pontiac chased them down and forced them off the road near another development. They then smashed the Lexus with liquor bottles and sticks, trying to get at McLean and Perez.The five forced their way into the vehicle and began physically assaulting the victims.

Perez escaped into the woods, but McLean was pulled from the car, beaten with sticks and stabbed multiple times with a Phillips-head screwdriver. The five then fled the scene, leaving McLean bleeding in the middle of the road.

A nearby resident called 911 at 2:54 a.m. and reported the assault. Police responding to the scene passed a car heading in the opposite direction on Sullivan Trail, not knowing at the time that those were the five attackers in the Pontiac.

Police at the scene found only the victimsí damaged Lexus, spattered with blood, liquor bottle glass and liquor fluid.

Police shortly afterward learned a motorist had called 911 and reported picking up a man (McLean) who had been stabbed on Sullivan Trail near the Lexus. The motorist was taking McLean to Pocono Medical Center, where McLean received medical attention that most likely saved his life, according to the affidavit.

Perez later was found and interviewed.

Clues left at the scene helped lead police to all five defendants. Police found and impounded the Pontiac, finding more evidence. The defendants subsequently were arrested and arraigned.

Evans, Velazquez, Briggs and Bayley were placed in Monroe County Correctional Facility, each in lieu of $50,000 bail. Moultrie was placed in county jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.